Princeton Bhakti Vedanta Institute of Spiritual Culture & Science in collaboration with Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Institute of Spiritual Culture & Science and Indo-German Noch-kontakt Association (iGNA), present:
8th International Conference
Science and Scientist 2020: Understanding the Subject/Object, Mind/Body Unity
December 20-22, 2020
4:30 pm - 8:30 pm IST [GMT/UTC+5:30]
ONLINE / Livestream
The confusions and almost complete ignorance that exist today regarding something so fundamental as consciousness is immediately cleared up when the obvious errors are seen in the ad hoc presumptions of the original founders of modern science who were blindsided by the metaphysical ontologies that held sway during their lives, but to which we no longer adhere, thanks to the development of philosophy beyond that period. The conference chair Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D. has traced this progress out in a concise way in the book Idols of the Mind vs True Reality. As elaborated in this book, the theme of this conference is also concerned with the clear exposition of the pivotal conceptions and misconceptions of Galileo's and others' ideas that produced the subsequent development of what would become modern mathematized science.
The modern mind, thanks to science education, is focused on the one-sided empirical approach to knowledge by sensuous perception, but this fails to account for the role of subjective cognition or conception – the role of consciousness in such perceptions. This artificial separation of the original unity-in-difference between conception and content has been rendered impossible to broach because of the historical metaphysical tradition of dualism firmly held by the fathers of modern science such as Galileo and Descartes.
The presumed impossible gap between subject and object is bridged once we realize that the object is what the subject knows it to be. This does not reduce the object to the subject as the abstract idealists (monists) naively are only too hasty to presume as an immediate identity (oneness). Mediation is involved; there are both difference and identity at play. It is merely lazy un-thinking that ignores the intricate dynamic in the mediating activity that is the heart and life of consciousness. The main purpose of this conference is to restore the central importance of the conceptual moment that is integral to science and which makes it truly worthy of the name Science or scientific knowledge.
This conference will bring together scientists and philosophers, and aims to foster new collaborations and research avenues with potential relevance towards development of scientific understanding of life and its origin.
Conference hashtag: #scienceandscientist2020 || #scienceandscientist2020
Science and Scientist 2020: Understanding the Subject/Object, Mind/Body Unity
ORGANIZERS
- Sripad Bhakti Madhava Puri Maharaja, Ph.D. (Conference Chair, Serving Director, Princeton Bhakti Vedanta Institute of Spiritual Culture and Science, NJ, USA)
- Bhakti Vijnana Muni, Ph.D. (President, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Institute of Spiritual Culture and Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India)
- Bhakti Niskama Shanta, Ph.D. (Gen. Secretary, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Institute of Spiritual Culture and Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India)
- Joan Walton, Ph.D. (Senior Lecturer, School of Education/Ph.D. Supervisor, York St John University, U.K.)
- M. Chandrasekharam, Ph.D. (Sr. Principal Scientist & President IGNA_Hyderabad and CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India)
- V. Jayathirtha Rao, Ph.D., CChem, FRSC, FTAS (Emer- Scientist, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, India)
- M. M. Dixit, Ph.D. (Ex-Chief Scientist, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, India)
- S. N. Rai, Ph.D. (Ex-Chief Scientist, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, India)
- Medicharla Venkata Jagannadham, Ph.D. (Ex-Chief Scientist, Genomics and Proteomics, Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderbad, Telegana, India)
- Ashok Mishra, Ph.D. (Associate Prof., Civil Engineering, Clemson University, South Carolina, USA)